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Under the 2024 tax reform, the Japanese government strengthened tax credit for salary increase from the perspective of (a) easing the burden on citizens whose wage increases have not kept pace with rising prices, (b) aiming to achieve an economy where wage increases that fully exceed price increases are sustained and (c) supporting efforts to balance work and child-caring and promote the advancement of women. The main points of the revision are the establishment of a new definition called “medium-sized enterprises” and the raising of the tax credit ratio through the establishment of additional deductions for childcare support and the promotion of women's activities.

The deductibility of entertainment expenses under Japan corporate tax law is a complicated topic. This newsletter explains the deductibility of entertainment expenses in general and also in relation to the special sub-category of entertainment expenses for meals and drinks.

Japan's commitment to invigorating its small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) took a significant step forward with the announcement of the 2024 fiscal year tax reforms. These reforms, part of the Reiwa 6 year plan, focus on expanding the SME Business Reorganization Investment Loss Reserve System. This policy is tailored to empower SMEs to grow through strategic acquisitions and integrations.

This article explains the impact of the reform of determining a taxable enterprise for consumption tax purposes on foreign owned domestic enterprise and a foreign enterprise for taxable periods beginning after October 2024, based on the amendments.

The size-based business taxation system was introduced in 2004. The size-based business taxation system imposes “a value-added tax” and “a capital-based tax” on companies with stated capital of more than JPY100 million. The taxes are levied even where a corporation is in currently loss position. A value-added tax is levied based on the sum of the distribution of earnings (comprising remuneration and salaries, net interest paid and net rent paid) and profit or loss for a single year, and a capital tax is levied based on the amount of stated capital, capital reserve, other capital surplus etc. as defined by the Corporation Tax Law.

On February 19, 2024, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published its final report on Pillar 1 Amount B to simplify and streamline the application of the arm's length principle to baseline marketing and sales activities, with a focus on the needs of countries or regions with low tax enforcement capacity.

Hometown Tax donation (Furusato Nozei) is a system that allows individuals to receive income tax and inhabitant tax deductions for donations made to local governments of their choice. In addition, since the donor can receive return gifts from the recipient local government, the number and amount of such donations have been increasing in recent years attracting more and more attention. This article explains how it works and how the tax amount is reduced.